Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Coercive North Carolina Ultrasound Law

12.22.14 - (PRESS
RELEASE) In
a unanimous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
has permanently blocked a 2011 North Carolina law that would force women to
undergo a narrated ultrasound before receiving abortion care. Today’s
ruling states
that “the state cannot commandeer the doctor-patient relationship to compel a
physician to express its preference to the patient.”

The law—which
requires abortion providers to display the ultrasound and describe the images
in detail to every woman before performing an abortion, even if the woman
objects— was preliminarily
blocked in October 2011 following a lawsuit filed on behalf of several
North Carolina physicians and medical practices by the Center for Reproductive
Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of North Carolina Legal
Foundation, Planned Parenthood, and the firm of O’Melveny & Myers.
The measure was later permanently
struck down as unconstitutional by a federal district court in January
2014.

North
Carolina’s coercive ultrasound law violates the First Amendment rights of
physicians by forcing them to deliver politically motivated communications to a
patient even over the patient’s objection. Today’s ruling affirms that
"transforming the physician into the mouthpiece of the state undermines
the trust that is necessary for facilitating healthy doctor-patient
relationships and, through them, successful treatment outcomes."

“We’re
thrilled that the appellate court rejected this unconscionable attempt to
intrude on the doctor-patient relationship,” said Nancy Northup, President and
CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Exam rooms are no place for
propaganda and doctors should never be forced to serve as mouthpieces for
politicians who wish to shame and demean women.”

“This
law is about trying to shame a woman out of having an abortion, pure and
simple,” said Louise Melling, deputy legal director for the ACLU. “Politics
don’t belong in the exam room, and a doctor shouldn’t have to humiliate a woman
because some politicians disagree with her decision.”

“Today’s
ruling marks another major victory for women and sends a message to lawmakers
across the country: it is unconstitutional for politicians to interfere
in a woman’s personal medical decisions about abortion,” said Cecile Richards,
president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Politicians are not
medical experts — but politicians have written this law with the ultimate goal
of restricting access to safe, legal abortion.”

The North
Carolina mandatory ultrasound law, which the General Assembly passed in 2011
over the veto of then-Governor Bev Perdue, is one of the most extreme
ultrasound laws in the country. In November 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court refused
to review a similar law from Oklahoma, allowing the ruling from the Oklahoma
Supreme Court blocking the measure as unconstitutional to stand.

While the law
would allow the woman to “avert her eyes” from the ultrasound screen and to
“refuse to hear” the explanation of the images, the provider would still be
required to place the images in front of her and describe them in detail over
her objection. The North Carolina law applies even if a woman does not want to
see the ultrasound, and makes no exception for rape, incest, serious health
risks or severe fetal anomalies.

Harmful and
unconstitutional restrictions like these further underscore the need for the
federal Women's Health
Protection Act (S. 1696/H.R. 3471)—a bill that would prohibit states like
North Carolina from imposing unconstitutional restrictions on reproductive
health care providers that apply to no similar medical care, interfere with
women’s personal decision making, and block access to safe and legal abortion
services.